Sen. Linares Named “Latino Citizen of the Year”

Sen. Art Linares addresses his colleagues in the State Capitol’s Senate Chamber. Linares has been named “Latino Citizen of the Year” by the Connecticut Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission.

Sen. Art Linares has been named “Latino Citizen of the Year” by the Connecticut Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission (LPRAC). LPRAC is a nonpartisan policy agency within the legislative branch of government. LPRAC consists of 21 appointed community leaders who advise the Connecticut General Assembly and the Governor on policies which foster progress in Connecticut’s Latino communities.

“I am very excited that members of the board of my agency agreed to bestow such a great honor to State Senator Linares,” LPRAC Executive Director Werner Oyanadel said. “Sen. Linares is a great leader who exemplifies all the best qualities of what makes this country so great! Sen. Linares has excelled in business and sports at a very young age and to our delight he becomes one of our first Latino Senators to be elected to that office to champion our issues in the halls of power.”

“I am deeply honored and humbled,” Sen. Linares said. “I am grateful to the Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission for this recognition, and I pledge to continue to work in a bipartisan fashion with anyone who is willing to pass policies which improve our quality of life in Connecticut.”

Linares, 26, is State Senator for the 33rd Senate District, which encompasses the towns of Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland, and Westbrook. A Westbrook resident, Linares is the lead Republican senator on the state legislature’s Planning and Development Committee. The panel has cognizance of all matters relating to local governments, regional planning and development activities, and economic development programs impacting local governments. An Assistant Minority Leader, Sen. Linares also serves on the Education Committee, the Internship Committee and the Judiciary Committee. He has previously served on the Children’s Committee, the Commerce Committee and the Banks Committee.

Linares’ val­ues stem from his family’s his­tory. In 1961, a force of exiles trained by the CIA stormed Cuba in an attempt to free the coun­try from com­mu­nist dic­ta­tor Fidel Cas­tro. After the inva­sion failed, Linares’ grand­parents fled the coun­try they loved in order to assure that their chil­dren were safe and able to grow up in a free coun­try.

In Amer­i­ca, Linares’s father started a successful busi­ness, and that success inspired Linares to start a busi­ness out of his base­ment when he was 19 years old. Linares is the co-founder of Greenskies, a successful, Middletown-based, commercial solar energy company.

At 23, Linares was elected to the state Senate. He is now serving his second term in office.

The “Latino Citizen of the Year” award presentation will take place on Oct. 17 at Amarante’s Sea Cliff in New Haven.